Because of God – Father, Son and Spirit’s involvement in our real human lives as revealed in Jesus, and the fact that Jesus himself did not get out of sharing in our humanity without suffering, we will suffer with Him as we participate in and from Jesus.

As I like to say by analogy, sin was us missing the mark in relationship with God and rejecting him was like forcing our heads through a knothole. In undoing the mess we made, Jesus took on our humanity and pulled it back through the dark knothole, literally!, undoing the mess we made. As you can imagine, or maybe even know by experience, being pulled back out of a situation in which you’ve been stuck HURTS TOO!

This is what we see, hear and feel in Jesus as he is facing the supreme point and pain of getting us out of our stuckness, when he says in Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” You might remember that the context of these words shows that an angel was sent to strengthen Jesus and he was in “great anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

This expectation of having to suffer with Jesus and share in his pain is important and is actually one way of relieving the suffering that is to be experienced by us in our participation with him. How is it relieving? Well, when you are told about something in advance, it is not as shocking to you when it occurs and, in some way, though not fully, you are more prepared for it, at least mentally. As a former human resources director, I remember that nothing was more fearful for people in the workplace than “fear of the unknown!”

One consideration for your suffering as a Christian is definitely the same reason Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, suffered:

John 11: “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Ultimately, your participation is with Christ and in his sufferings as one who trusts him and is being saved! Consider this awesome union with Jesus Christ we have, from the Father and by the Spirit, and receive encouragement from these words penned by George MacDonald in this light:

“But oh, my friends, what shall I say about this wonderful message? Think of being sick for the glory of God! of being shipwrecked for the glory of God! of being drowned for the glory of God! How can the sickness, the fear, the brokenheartedness of his creatures be for the glory of God? What kind of God can that be? Why just a God so perfectly, absolutely good that the things that look least like it are only the means of clearing our eyes to let us see how good he is. For he is so good that he is not satisfied with being good. He loves his children so, that except he can make them good like himself, make them blessed by seeing how good he is, and desiring the same goodness in themselves, he is not satisfied. He is not like a fine, proud benefactor, who is content with doing that which will satisfy his sense of his own glory, but like a mother who puts her arm round her child, and whose heart is sore till she can make her child see the love which is her glory. The glorification of the Son of God is the glorification of the human race, for the glory of God is the glory of man, and that glory is love! Welcome sickness, welcome sorrow, welcome death, revealing that glory!”

2 Timothy 2: 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,we will also live with him;12 if we endure,we will also reign with him.

Have a glorious Easter weekend (especially if you’re suffering!), Participating in Your Share of the Sufferings of Jesus Christ, and in Hope of Your Future Resurrection and Glorification in Him!